The semi finals were completed in Wuhan and again Alison Riske provided an upset, while Aryna Sabalenka repeated her semi final victory from last year.
Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open - a WTA Premier 5 category tournament, on Hard Deco Turf, in Wuhan, China, 22-28 September 2019.
Defending champion:
Aryna Sabalenka who defeated Anett Kontaveit 6-3 6-3
Semi final results
Aryna Sabalenka (9) defeated Ash Barty (1)
The head to head record between the pair was 2-2. Sabalenka’s wins were both last year, both in China, and the second was in the Wuhan semi final, so this match would be déjà vu.
Barty was hoping to reverse the result, and she would be happy with the straight sets win she posted earlier this year over Sabalenka in the Fed Cup semi final.
Barty won the toss and chose to serve, but delivered a shocker, including a double fault to donate a break point. Sabalenka converted to lead, and consolidated for a 2-0 advantage.
It could have been 3-0, but Barty avoided the double break and in fact broke back to even things.
Both players then held serve for the best part, Sabalenka playing catch up and serving to stay in the set at 4-5. Barty cracked and Sabalenka won the final three games, taking the set 7-5. Break back points were saved in the process.
Set two saw no breaks of serve, although Barty had two break points come her way. Neither were converted, and 4-4 was reached.
Sabalenka grabbed the initiative late in the set for a second time, breaking the Australian serve. A double fault intrusion was unfortunate for Barty who couldn’t prevent Sabalenka from then serving out the match 7-5 6-4, and earning a place in the final for a second successive year. A title defence was one match away.
Alison Riske defeated Petra Kvitová (5) 7-5 7-5
The pair hadn’t met since 2013 where they split two matches.
After knocking out third seed Elina Svitolina in the quarters, Riske gathered up 15 break points against Kvitová. The fifth seed could only create 7.
Riske didn’t win many more points than Kvitová throughout the match, but converted four break points to two, enabling the victory in two sets.
The final for which Riske now qualified, is her third for 2019, having lost in Shenzhen and won in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, but this is the first final at Premier 5 level. All other 8 career finals were in the much lower International category.
The final will be the third meeting between Sabalenka and Riske - the most recent clash was in the Shenzhen final this year. Sabalenka won that, and the other match the two have played, in Rome 2018.
